Just a quick note to say thanks for your piece on Pete. Growing up listening to him on WNEW and then WFUV, (my favorite radio station), it was indeed a loss to hear of his passing. There are few special DJs that we will always remember and Pete was one of them.
Kindest regards,
Lauren Marinelli
Port Washington
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On April 26, we lost – and by “we” I mean Port Washington, Long Island and New York and radio and the music community – a true legend and rock ‘n roll historian, our own Pete Fornatale.
Pete was a pioneer who definitely put Long Island on the map. He made us “cool” to all the city kids who thought we were living in the sticks out here. He was kind, funny and generous to anyone who came into his circle, even for a brief period of time. He was an icon to so many of us who live for the music – to someone like me.
I urge those of us, particularly the over-50 crowd, to dust off your record albums one night, light a candle and create your own “mixed bag” in tribute to this incredible man. I think wherever he is it will make him smile.
Bonnie Anne Loutrel
Port Washington
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Thanks for a wonderful editorial. I find it terribly difficult trying to explain to my 25-year-old daughter and her friends exactly what Pete and his cohorts on WNEW meant to a whole generation of radio listeners in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He taught us how to listen to and love music as much as he did, and he was instrumental in making music such an important part of that time and era. He will be sorely missed.
Robert Fine
Washington, D.C.
